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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 116 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  5. The tickets are free of ________________.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  18. What do you think of the new ________________?
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. cold — not warm
  3. court — of law
  4. cabinet — a cupboard
  5. charge — a price
  6. band — a music group
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. charge — in control
  10. file — a tool
  11. charge — electricity
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. file — a line of people
  14. band — a ring
  15. file — a document
  16. kick — in football
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. court — for sport
  21. court — of a king
  22. cold — an illness
  23. wax — to grow
  24. band — a rubber band

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com